Xu Lingxin didn’t return until well after the fall of night. An Fei opened the door leading out of the bedroom to expose a disgruntled temple maiden hoisting a soggy parasol with a grim countenance. Before the young girl could ask any questions, the latter had stuffed a scrap of paper into her hands, and collapsed onto the nearby bed without bothering to undress.
The conclusion of the momentary confusion and shock was An Fei staring at the emboldened doors of a large mansion with narrowed eyes attempting to decipher an intelligible scribble the next day. She continued to glance at the scrap of paper clenched in her hand as a means of reference, but the characters inscribed on the signboard resembled each other to the extent that comprehension remained far from reach.
“She… said this was the Baek Residence… was he a baron or a minister?” An Fei grumbled to herself in frustration.
“These characters look far too similar to each other. How is this even functional as a written language –“
“This… Young Miss? May I ask what you are doing in front of my family’s gates?”
A male’s soft voice from the right interrupted the young girl’s momentary grumbles, and An Fei raised her gaze is wariness towards the approaching person. Her eyelashes quivered upon noticing a flamboyant set of robes adorned with an imperial chaste of scarlet, gold, and vibrant threads of violet, but riveted themselves onto the circular embroidered pattern resting near the chest.
“You… you are?”
There, where the cesspool of benign but irritating swath of color converged, was the same set of embroidered lettering that matched the characters displayed on the signboard and the scrap of paper in her hand.
An Fei’s horrible knowledge and proficiency of Bei Tang’s absurd language that served as a combination of Korean and Japanese linguistics caused the young male to furrow his brows in confusion. No insignificant amount of caution bloomed in his heart, and the originally placid and cordial expression bid themselves farewell in a matter of seconds.
“This Young Lady… where exactly do you come from, and why are you standing before my residence’s gates?”
The question contained a similar set of words, but the intention and tone had taken a dive towards the depths of caution. An Fei released a soft breath to collect her thoughts, and produced the words Xu Lingxin had fed to her the night before – albeit in a garbled voice.
“There was an Esteemed Cultivator who… who informed your father of my presence this day. She… the Esteemed Cultivator… is from the Morning Star Temple.”
“Morning Star Temple? Esteemed Cultivator? Why do I, the Baek Family’s Young Master, not know of this?” the young man curved his lips into a sardonic smile.
“This Young Lady, what is the true reason you stand before my courtyard’s gates? Did Song Jumin send you here to barge into my family like the previous ones he sent?”
The swift and harsh bombardment of foreign vocabulary caused no small of a headache for An Fei, and the distraction caused a completely blank and confused expression to manifest on her countenance. When she noticed the young male’s darkening countenance and clenched hands, the young girl elected to ignore him outright and instead stare once more towards the door and the oblique signboard.
If Xu Lingxin had not maligned her, then the person she had discovered yesterday should be sending someone soon after all this noise…
“Should you not dare give me, this Young Master, the Baek Family’s face, then do not blame me should I become –“
Creak!
The doors barring entry into the Baek Residence swung open to reveal a middle-aged man adorned in a plain scholar’s set of grey robes. The man glanced onto An Fei’s pair of bemused, scarlet irises, and nodded his head in appreciation after a brief scan of his memory.
“You match the Esteemed Cultivator’s description. Young Lady Xu, am I correct?”
“-rude – Father!? Why have you come out so early in the morning?”
The young man’s outburst suffocated upon recognizing the enlarged silhouette of his father, and his words squawked in defeat. The Baek Family’s Master closed his eyes and gave a helpless nod to An Fei in embarrassment, although his aged heart screamed with exasperation.
“Young Lady Xu, I, Baek Zhongmin, extend my greatest apologies for my son’s behavior. Please, with due haste, this way.”
…in exchange, don’t tell the Esteemed Cultivator about my son’s issue… alright?
The silent plea was successfully received by the young girl, and the middle-aged man delightfully discarded his son behind to stand at the residential gates.
An Fei was rushed through a blithely decorated courtyard and into a large storeroom in a manner of minutes. Baek Zhongmin failed to give her even a single opportunity to question, and before her eyes had registered to their new environment, he had quickly bowed and closed the doors as he retreated.
An Fei was left alone in a dimly lit storeroom provided lighting by a single oiled lamp. She couldn’t hear the argument between father and son outside of the storeroom, nor the servants proceeding in their daily routine. The young girl blinked twice as she gradually eliminated all dull thoughts, and began to survey her surroundings with a keen glare.
“This… is a library?”
The dim lighting didn’t assist her that much and only allowed her to acutely observe up to a distance of two meters. As she squinted and took a cautionary step forwards, An Fei gradually realized the scope of the Baek Family’s assortment, as well as Xu Lingxin’s intentions.
From the arrangement of the courtyards and their respective buildings, the storeroom appeared relatively small and nondescript from its exterior appearance. When she began her slow exploration of the polished wood and stone building, she was exposed to the secret hidden in plain sight.
Books and scrolls of various materials and sizes were neatly shelved and stored on a massive array of bookshelves, display stands, and tables scattered throughout the storehouse. The conditions of these books and scrolls were equally diverse and varied, for An Fei witnessed a book maintained in pristine condition stored directly next to a partially-rotted scroll made from sheepskin leather. The further she explored, the young girl even discovered several stone tablets and bone scripts carved with letters of an ancient language.
“I asked for books, but how am I supposed to read this? Where… am I even supposed to start?”
An Fei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when she realized that most of the books were not written in a language she could comprehend. The young girl blithely stared at the oil lamp grasped in her hand, and couldn’t help but wonder whether this was supposed to keep herself occupied for several months, or several years.
…and all she had for lighting was a single oil lamp.
An Fei gazed into the dim corners of the storehouse, and released a long exhale of breath. She directed a final glance towards the warmly flickering stain of light clenched in her right hand, and slowly arrived at a decision. Before she considered anything regarding the books… she had to solve the problem of lighting.
The young girl gently inhaled, and willed for the kernel of golden light at her chest to come to life. Then, utilizing her sea of perception as a catalyst, An Fei imagined a thread of golden light detach from the core, snake through the various meridians and vessels and reside at her right index fingertip.
It took several attempts to experience the thin stream of warmth spread throughout her body, and An Fei witnessed the tip of her finger illuminate with a golden brand of light housed directly underneath the fingernail upon her seventh try. She then tried to eject the golden light from her finger to hover before her, and closed her eyes to concentrate.
It was a surreal sensation – not unlike that of perspiring in cold weather, but with a more of an elucidating afterglow. Her body involuntarily shivered as the golden thread slowly extricated itself from her fingertip and materialized. The instant the thread detached itself from her fingertip, it was compressed into a small bead due to the mortal world’s suppression – no bigger than the size of her pupil.
“Can… can you give me some light?”
The prowess of the Sanctum’s spiritual essence was nullified by the overwhelming presence of the mortal world’s atmospheric spiritual qi. Although An Fei dared not expect much from a bead of light smaller than her pinky’s fingernail, she ultimately underestimated the tenacity of the golden light, as well as the effectiveness of her commands.
The bead released a low-pitched growl, and the young girl fervently witnessed an illusory sphere of gold manifest from within. The rays of light emanating from the incorporeal ball of gold illuminated the room to reveal all of its contents, and reminded her of the comfortable sensation of the Sanctum and the sky-blue crystal.
An Fei dared to indulge in the relaxing shower of golden light for only a brief moment. She turned around to face the overwhelming arrangement of books, scrolls, and stone tablets that constituted the Baek Family’s storehouse, and wrinkled her lips.
